El Moro Churrería has been a popular image of daily life in Mexico, offering delicious, authentic, rich-flavoured churros and hot chocolate since 1935. For their recently completed store, located in Mexico City, El Moro looked to local multi-disciplinary designers and architects Cadena + Asociados, to lead them into a new branding experience.

Implementing their architecture, design and branding expertise, Cadena + Asociados’ new strategic vision and modern rebranding for El Moro encapsulates this family-run company’s rich history and family values to bring it into a new era by drawing inspiration from the company’s past. Drawing inspiration from the Art Deco, the era of El Moro’s humble beginnings, and referencing the blue hue of the classic mosaic wall tiles and stained glass windows which have identified the El Moro brand for generations, the designers added a ‘little sugar’ to the conceptual mix: the result is a bright white, refined and ‘sweet’ new graphic system that now clearly identifies the brand.

Photo by Moritz Bernoully.

Photo by Moritz Bernoully.

According to the designers, “this new take on the graphic design translates into endless compositional possibilities that apply significantly to the brand’s identity, communication, architecture and interior design”. Indeed, the new graphic language of El Moro has found many creative applications in the new store, where walls, floors and the building’s façade are fully tiled in the custom-designed, art deco-inspired tessellated blue pattern, creating a simple, minimal monochromatic spatial envelope. Inside, the open-style service counter is clad in plain white mosaic tiles and allows a glimpse through to the kitchen, while overhead, the menu graphics are applied directly onto the tiles, thus seamlessly integrating the overall branding graphics and design concept.

Photo by Moritz Bernoully.

Photo by Moritz Bernoully.

Aiming for a minimal unobtrusive lighting strategy, simple silver reflective globes project from the ceiling to compliment rather than compete with the graphic pattern of the tiles. The dining space is also filled with charmingly detailed tables and chairs in lime-washed and blonde timbers, while white bentwood rocking chairs spill out on to the street creating an al fresco sidewalk lounge. Adding to El Moro’s street presence, the up-lit individual letters of the external signage in a classic Art Deco font provide a sleek touch to an already vibrant and crisp design that reinterprets the Mexican aesthetic with a modern twist.